Lt. Gov. Newsom tells San Domenico students to be 'audacious' with their goals

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom paid a visit to San Domenico School in San Anselmo Monday to talk about the environment and to inspire students not to be "afraid to make mistakes."

"If it doesn't sound crazy, it's probably not a good idea," said Newsom, a Kent Woodlands resident and former San Francisco mayor.

He addressed eighth-grade students at the school, urging them to think independently.

"Your expression is unique, no one else has it," he said. "Learn from, but you don't have to follow others. You don't have to be like someone else to be extraordinary."

Newsom, a Redwood High School graduate, was invited to the campus by eighth-graders Matthew Geffen and Burke Wynne, who met Newsom over the summer at a journalism camp.

"We wrote him a letter and told him our whole class could benefit from him talking to us about green energy," Geffen said.

The school has a large solar-panel field and uses compost in its student garden, among other sustainable projects.

Newsom praised the school and students for being environmentally aware.

"You are taking responsibility, you are not waiting for someone else. You are owning the problem by taking tangible, rationale and specific steps," he said. "You did it with the garden, which may not seem like a big deal to you, but it is a big deal to me because it's an example for what other schools can be doing."

Newsom toured the garden after his address.

He also implored students to fight through struggles, referencing his own problems with dyslexia while he attended Hall Middle School in Larkspur, saying no problem is too big to overcome.

"The issue of climate change is big, some people think it is too big. But chunk it down, break it down and say 'I can't wait around for everyone else to figure this out, how can I change behavior?' "

He also told students success breeds success.

"When people see you do something and it's achievable, it makes it more likely that someone will try to do the same thing," he said. "There is nothing too big for you to achieve if you break it down into small parts. Take responsibility, don't wait for someone else to do something in life. Be that example.